PREFACE THE FIFTH EDITION. THE British nation is essentially sporting and horse-loving, so in publishing this fifth edition of Riding and Hunting one feels that no apology is needed for bringing before the public a new and improved edition on matters appertaining to the horse. The first edition, which appeared in 1884, was entitled Riding on the Flat and Across Country two others quickly followed, after which the author entirely revised the work, and added several new illustrations to it, and it appeared in 1901 under the present title, Riding and Hunting. A new 5th edition of this standard work is now required, which has been improved and brought up to date. The Earl of Lonsdale, whose portrait formed the frontispiece of the old edition, has kindly given a more recent photograph for use in the present work, and has, with his usual kind-heartedness, found time amongst his many varied interests to read over the proofs and to add several very useful notes. He considers that the work contains a large amount of very valuable information, although there are some points with which he does not agree. His kindly help and personal interest in this edition have been very greatly appreciated by Mrs. Hayes, who, since the death of her late husband, has had the supervision of his books on horses. The chapter on Military Riding is by Major W. H. King, of the Royal Horse Guards Blues, who most kindly consented to re-write and bring up to date the original one. This treatise on riding was a labour of love to its author, the late Captain Hayes, an enthusiast in all matters connected with horses and riding. After joining the Royal Artillery in India, where he had much experience in racing andsteeplechasing as carried on in that country, he was transferred to the Bengal Staff Corps, in which he served nine years, after which he was one year in The Buffs before retiring from the Service. He spent over twenty years in India, and whilst there published his first book, Training and Horse-Management in India, the sixth edition of which he was revising when he died in 1904, and which was finished after his death by Mrs. Hayes. He also wrote while in India a book entitled Indian Racing Reminiscences, a subject on which he was eminently qualified to write, as he had a stable of ten or twelve horses in training, managing the stable and riding the animals himself, whenever the weight permitted. He also wrote in India his first edition of Veterinary Notes for Horse-Owners. As he had not then taken his veterinary diploma, and as he desired to qualify in order to place this work on a scientific basis, he retired from the Service in 1880 and studied for his veterinary diploma at the New Veterinary College, Edinburgh. He also obtained subsequently the Fellowship degree in London, and his veterinary book, from a small beginning in India, is now a large and important work in its seventh edition. After obtaining his diploma, Captain Hayes toured through India, Egypt, Ceylon, China and South Africa, giving instruction in the breaking of horses. Perhaps the greatest of all this clever writers works is Points of the Horse, a monumental labour which took him over fifteen years to complete. He also wrote Stable Management and Exercise, and purchased the English rights of translation of Professor Friedberger and Frohners Veterinary Pathology, which has been completed and brought up to date by Mrs.Hayes since his death...